Quentin Tarantino Declares Digital Projection 'the Death of Cinema'

A press conference was held at the Cannes Film Festival to honor the 20th anniversary of the Palme d'Or win for Quentin Tarantino's rock 'em sock 'em crime epic "Pulp Fiction" (Tarantino, ever the film nerd, was also on hand to screen a 50th anniversary print of Sergio Leone's seminal western "A Fistful of Dollars"), and Tarantino used to opportunity to proclaim cinema as we know it pretty much dead (via The Star).

"As far as I'm concerned, digital projection . . . is the death of cinema as I know it," he told journalists at the press conference. Oh. Go on.

"It's not even about shooting your film on film or shooting your film on digital. The fact that most films now are not presented in 35 mm means that the war is lost," Tarantino explained, in what we can only imagine in his patently manic deliver, with his arms wildly flailing. "Digital projection, that's just television in public. And apparently the whole world is OK with television in public, but what I knew as cinema is dead."

While he feels that the current generation has let him down but he's (somewhat) hopeful about the future. He says that the current situation is "a woozy romantic period with the ease of digital -- and I'm hoping that, while this generation is completely hopeless, that the next generation that will come out will demand the real thing." Thanks, Tarantino!

This entire argument is totally baffling to us because digital projection is so, so, so superior to film. It's brighter, it's clearer, it's more dimensional (with 3D, literally) -- this is literally the very best presentation films have ever received. And Tarantino is knocking it? I remember a few years ago I went to a 70 mm press screening of "The Master," which was kind of amazing because it was in 70 mm and really big. But the print also kind of looked crummy -- and this was before it was even released. Quite frankly, a digital IMAX presentation of "Godzilla" was just as jaw-dropping.

But hey, we're kind of overdue for a "death of cinema" proclamation from one of the biggest directors in the world, and Tarantino always loves shooting his mouth off about something. So while the argument is interesting, it just doesn't hold much water.